You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
PostScript
Letter
Optometric telemedicine: community-based screening for choroidal neovascularisation
  1. Daniel M Hornan,
  2. Krishnappa C Madhusudhana,
  3. Richard S B Newsom
  1. University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK
  1. Correspondence to Mr Richard S B Newsom, Southampton Eye Unit, Tremona Road, Southampton S016 6YD, UK; one{at}rbnewsom.plus.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2008.155754

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Effective management of choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) requires timely referral of patients, as irreversible visual loss occurs within the first 3 months of the disease. However, a significant proportion of patients with CNV see a specialist, who is able to administer treatment, more than 6 months after the onset of symptoms.1 Many elderly patients are asymptomatic, particularly when the first eye that is affected is non-dominant. Screening and early intervention may prevent visual loss in these patients, especially with the advent of anti-VEGF therapies.

    We evaluated the effectiveness of photographic screening in the community for CNV. A total of 628 consecutive patients (1177 eyes) aged 75 and over attending their optometrists were assessed. Stereo colour fundus photographs were obtained and the images transmitted electronically and graded by a retinal specialist …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Funding This project was supported by a grant from Novartis pharmaceuticals.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Ethics approval Ethics approval was provided by the Southampton and South West Hampshire Research Ethics Committee.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.